Diocese of Linz: Vatican deals with objections to parish structural reform

Linz, December 11, 2023 (KAP) The Vatican Dicastery for the Clergy is now dealing with objections against some implementation steps of the parish structural reform in the Diocese of Linz. This was preceded by a request from 8 of 103 affected Upper Austrian parishes, which are to be merged into seven new parishes, to withdraw the merger, as the diocese announced in a press release on Monday. The entry into force of the corresponding decrees for the deaneries of Andorf, Frankenmarkt, Kremsmünster and Ried, from which resistance to the merger had been formulated, will therefore be suspended. The structural reform is continuing in other communities: The merger decrees for the new parishes of Mühlviertel-Mitte, Steyr and TraunerLand will become legally valid as planned on January 1, 2024, it was said.

Regarding the process so far: More than a year ago – on October 18, 2022 – the Linz diocese leadership issued the first 51 decrees, with which as many parishes were merged into five new parishes as of January 1, 2023. On September 29, 2023, the next 103 decrees were issued, through which a further 103 parishes were to be merged into seven new parishes at the turn of the year. The Linz Council of Priests had already approved these mergers in March. After Bishop Manfred Scheuer issued the decrees, it was possible that individual members of affected parishes could also request that the merger be revoked. “This time this happened from some parishes,” said the diocese. These letters were answered by Scheuer “individually, albeit in a similar manner” in order to once again point out the reasons for the structural reform.

In accordance with the procedure provided for in the “Order of the Parishes”, an appeal for forwarding to Rome has now been submitted from 8 of the 103 parishes, starting from individuals or some groups, the broadcast continued. The responsible clergy dicastery in Rome is now concerned with “establishing legal certainty”; The entry into force of the parish merger decrees for the four affected deaneries therefore remains suspended until further notice.

The diocese emphasized that their designated pastors and pastoral directors can and should continue to set initiatives for future cooperation between the parishes in the deanery. The employees and those parishes from which there was no objection in the dean’s office “should not get the feeling that the overall church development is being paralyzed by the small number of dissenting voices.” The designated administrative managers who already work in the deaneries could also continue to carry out their tasks in the current sense.

Parish structural reform

As a reminder: The implementation concept of the parish structure reform in the Diocese of Linz envisages 39 “parishes”, which consist of several parish communities with their historical local legal entities “parish church” and “parish benefice”. The aim of the diocesan leadership is to make people aware of the togetherness within the pastoral space of a parish and to express the specific home and responsibility in a specific local community. The parish communities will therefore be able to maintain extensive independence – including financial ones – for their area, but at the same time they will benefit from the larger whole of the parish and the cooperation of those responsible for pastoral care.

This network of relationships also includes places of categorical pastoral care, such as in hospitals, in educational or youth centers and in company pastoral care. Innovative projects and pastoral initiatives should be an integral part of common parish life. The parishes are each led by a pastor in collaboration with two board members for pastoral and economic matters. What remains essential is the assistance and leadership responsibility in various areas of responsibility of priests, permanent deacons as well as full-time and voluntary employees on site in the parishes or in the pastoral area of ​​activity of the parish. Accessibility, pastoral care, witness to faith and social commitment should be ensured in the long term for all parishes through better coordination and task descriptions.

According to the Diocese of Linz, the main goal of the new structure is “to create a supportive framework for a reorientation of Christians in terms of content, oriented towards the message of Jesus, so that the church continues to be close to people and effective in society in the spirit of the Gospel “. Bishop Scheuer said in the diocesan newspaper from May 2021: “Church structures should create good framework conditions so that the church can be experienced as an open and positive force in our society.”